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Show GULF'S FREEZING PERILSFINLAND By WADE WERNER HELSINKI, Jan. 22 WV-Freex-Ing of the Gulf of Finland from the Estonian to the Finnish shore has confronted Finland with the possibility of an over-Ice attack from Soviet Russlsn bases In Estonia. Es-tonia. Foreign mlltlsry observers speculated spec-ulated today on the chances of success for such a thrust, but Finns Insisted they were well prepared pre-pared to meet It The coast, In some sections st lesst, hss been fortified end barricaded bar-ricaded with barbed wire. The frozen beach at Hanko, for example, exam-ple, Is Isced with barbed wire. Hanko, southernmost Finland, lies at the tip of a Gulf of Finland Fin-land peninsula, 55 miles northwest north-west of Baltiskl, Soviet Russia's Estonian air base. Almost ss though In anticipation of such a Russian move, Finlsnd was reported to have struck at Russlsn aviation bases on one of the few occasions in which the fledgling Finnish air force has rhsllenged the big Russlsn aerial armada. According to scanty reports on yesterday's operstions by the reds, Uleaborg and vicinity on the Both-fiian Both-fiian coast, were bombed, but the raids apparently did not compare with the sweep of Saturday's st-tscks st-tscks when hundreds of planes were sighted snd thoussnds of bombs were dropped. A let-up In the cold wave which had tumbled temperatures in some parts of Finlsnd to the 50's below zero, Fahrenheit, was accompanied by reports of revived military activity ac-tivity on the Karelian Isthmus ffont nd northeast of Lake Ladoga. Finnish officials asserted "the Soviets continued their reckless bombardment of hospitals. Altogether, Alto-gether, three hospitals have been damaged, but the casualties sre not yet determined." The high command announced that Finnish warplanes, "in addition addi-tion to carrying out reconnaissance flights and repelling enemy aircraft, air-craft, successfully bombed certain enemy air bases." (A Reuters News Agency dispatch dis-patch from Helsinki said Finnish airmen had bombed the Soviet Union's great naval base at Kron-sladt Kron-sladt In the Gulf of Finland and the Estonian port of Bsltiski, where a Russian air base wss set up recently by Russian-Estonian treaty.) The Finnish command also reported re-ported shooting down of sn observation ob-servation balloon and IX Russian bombers. The communique made no mention men-tion of fighting In the Salla sector above the arctic circle, but an Associated As-sociated Press correspondent with the Finnish forces there said the Russians had checked their retreat to engage the Finns In heavy fighting fight-ing near Markajarvl, 50 miles within with-in Finland. |